posted
Well not all of it but about 1/3 of the tip. I was making a quilt for a friend's baby due in February yesterday and I was using a rotary cutter (it's like a pizza wheel for fabric) when it slipped off my ruler and sliced through the tip of my index finger on my left hand. The cut started at the distal knuckle and sliced through my finger and fingernail on a 45 degree angle through the middle of my finger. The whole piece of my finger fell off! It wasn't just a slice it was a lopping off.
So I did this about 12:40 yesterday and as soon as I saw my finger hit my cutting board I said, "oh NFBSK!" I had always heard that if you cut something off to put it right back on to help the doctors be able to sew it back on. So I scooped it up and grabbed a washcloth and told my 3 year old daughter to follow me across the street. At this time I was hysterical because I was bleeding like a stuck pig and I ran into my neighbor's house screaming and told her what happened. She grabbed her two granddaughters and we all jumped in the car and she ran me to the hospital. She asked if she could sit with me in the ER and I said no take the girls home so they wouldn't have to wait in the ER and to call my husband. So I ran into the ER screaming, "I've cut my finger off!!!" The nurses came out and grabbed me and rushed me into triage where they asked me what happened and took my vitals. They ended up not getting a blood pressure on me because I was shaking so bad the machine couldn't get an accurate reading. So they wrapped up my finger and rather than whisking me away to be seen right away told me to sit in the waiting area with my hand over my head to keep the bleeding to a minimum. WTF?!?! I NEED MY FINGER SEWED BACK ON!!!
So there I sat for 1 hour 15 minutes. My husband came there from work and explained that he had just had a lady faint at his restaurant and he had been on the phone with 911 and waited for the paramedics to get there before he could leave.
I finally get taken into a room and I had the sweetest group of nurses and the nicest doctors. Everyone kept coming in and checking on me. I live in a small town with just 1 hospital so this was their excitement for the day. The first nurse that came in to see me stuck her head out from behind the curtain and said, "Doc, I have a decapitation in here that I need you to look at," the ER went SILENT. The doctor said, "a decapitation?" and the nurse replied, "yes this girl just decapitated herself". I hollered from behind the curtain, "I didn't cut off my head!" and the entire ER erupted with laughter. The nurse said, "why are you laughing?" and I said, "you told them I decapitated myself but I didn't cut off my head". Her face went ghost white and she said, "oh my goodness I must have sounded like an idiot!" So the same nurse then said "why didn't we get a BP on you when you came in?" I told her that I was shaking too badly for the machine to work and she said, "well why were you shaking were you upset about something?" To which I replied, "well when I got in here I had just cut off my finger!" She said, "oh I didn't mean it like that! I just wondered why they never got another one". So she took my BP and it was 142/91 and she said "oh that's a little high" and I said, "well don't you think that's understandable?!?" Kinda hard to be cool calm and collected when your missing part of a digit.
So the X-Ray tech came in and took me for X-Rays to make sure I didn't cut through bone, which thankfully I didn't.
When the doctor came in to suture me up he took the severed piece of finger looked at it and said, "meh, we don't need it". WHAT?!?! He said there was very little he could do as far as suturing me up, I would just have to have really good wound care to make sure there would be no infection. I did have to have a couple of internal stitches because I had a "bleeder" that they couldn't get to clot. So they put a gel foam on there to help it clot and then put on a bulky dressing and one of those metal finger protectors. I have to go back in tomorrow for a dressing change and then they will give me instructions for home care. The doctor told me I would have a permanent "dent" in my finger and that even though skin would regenerate it would never fill completely in. He also told me the fingernail would more than likely never regrow in that spot either.
All in all thought I am feeling pretty good, could be the percocet however but I am just happy there was no major damage. Thanks for listening to my 9 3/4 finger percocet induced rambling.
ETA: I had my follow up appointment today and thankfully there is no long term damage. Just a nasty ugly gash. Alright now onto the pics (not for the squeamish) This is the piece that I cut off as it was lying on the table in the ER This is the picture of it today after the bandages were removed This is the side view This is it from the top Pretty gross huh? The finger itself is doing well and it felt so good being able to pop it, my knuckles were killing me. God, I love percocet
-------------------- Take only pictures, leave only footprints... Posts: 255 | From: Sunny Florida | Registered: Nov 2005
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posted
I'm so sorry that you decapitated yourself. And you were such a nice, sweet young woman, too. What a loss.
By the way, I love your avatar and am glad that your accident wasn't any worse. It really feels strange to be typing in reply to a ghost.
-------------------- "This air we're breathing. Oxygen, isn't it?"~I’mNotDedalus, impersonating Vincent D’Onofrio.|"Sometimes trying to communicate can be like walking through a minefield."~wanderwoman "Give people a break. It's not easy doing a life."~Joshua Halberstam Posts: 4020 | From: Oklahoma | Registered: Nov 2005
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OMG! I'm stunned that they didn't reattach or something! Wow! I'm glad you're okay- overall.
-------------------- "Is it ME? Am I a MAGNET for these idiots?"~Pearl Forrester MST3K Die-Hard Engineers, Big Red One my Dad's website "Must be a 'snopes' thing..." ~my entire family when I try to explain something. Posts: 4524 | From: South of Madison, Wisconsin | Registered: May 2005
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Bethntim, my son wanted me to say: "You reap what you sew!" then he fell over into fits of laughter.
That's okay, I'll him for you.
-------------------- "Is it ME? Am I a MAGNET for these idiots?"~Pearl Forrester MST3K Die-Hard Engineers, Big Red One my Dad's website "Must be a 'snopes' thing..." ~my entire family when I try to explain something. Posts: 4524 | From: South of Madison, Wisconsin | Registered: May 2005
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Frog Feathers, your kids are so funny tell your son he gets a high 4 for that one! If anyone wants to see the cut off part my hubby has a picture on his cell phone. That was hilarious, when he takes a pic on his phone it says (very loud) SAY CHEESE! Thanks for your concern you guys are the best! I wear my battle scars proud!
-------------------- Take only pictures, leave only footprints... Posts: 255 | From: Sunny Florida | Registered: Nov 2005
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posted
I hesitated before opening this thread as I am sooooo squeemish. I was right to hesitate! I'm so glad you were able to see some humour in all this beth! Good for you and, I'm with nurple, enjoy your drugs.
-------------------- If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs, it's just possible you haven't grasped the situation. - Jean Kerr Posts: 18428 | From: Ontario, Canada | Registered: Nov 2001
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I am going to be extra careful with my rotary cutter from now on. :shudder:
I'm glad you're doing okay, Beth. What an event! Yikes!
-------------------- This used to be the life, but I don't need another one. MyBandwagon Posts: 3254 | From: small town Texas | Registered: Jan 2004
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ComicBookGeek
I'll Be Home for After Christmas Sales
posted
Gives a whole new meaning to "giving the finger"
posted
I did something similar at my job last year. Razor skipped off the ruler edge, skidded up over the metal surface, and *slash* off came part of my index finger. They're right though, there really is nothing they can do for a tiny piece like that (tiny relatively speaking, I know it doesn't seem tiny to you. It certainly didn't to me!) Part of my finger is still slanted because it never filled back out fully, but a great deal did come back, you can't even tell if you're not looking at it. Yours sounds a bit serious than mine, but it'll be ok in the end. Just do everything you can to keep from bumping it!
-------------------- Katesune: We still can't find the way to albuquerque, and glisp won't stop to ask for directions. Glisp42: Of course not. I know where I'm going, I just don't know where I am right now
quote:Originally posted by bethntim: Frog Feathers, your kids are so funny tell your son he gets a high 4 for that one!
absolutely hilarious. At least I'm glad you're willing to joke about it.
[/hijack](note: the following story may not be suitable for the more squeamish) I had a similar incident happen to me a few years back. I was working as a line cook in a local restaurant at the time. I was dicing peppers. Two cases of them to be exact, and my knife was starting to get dull. I looked down at the sharpening supplies on the shelf near my feet, and then I looked back at the five peppers (out of hundreds) I had left to dice. I decided to wait until I was done and then sharpen it for the next use. That was a huge mistake.
It was on the last pepper that the knife slipped off of the waxy surface of the pepper and sliced through my left index finger. The cut started about 1/2 cm above the last knuckle and went diagonally across my fingernail. Approximately 1/4 of the tip of my finger was missing, and it had disappeared into a pile of peppers. At first, I sat in stunned disbelief. It didn't even bleed at first, and that's where I was having trouble. It seemed like a good five minutes that I stared at my "stump" before I finally broke out of shock. My first aid training kicked in, and I decided I'd better put some pressure on the gaping open wound. I grabbed a clean rag off of the counter, and I wrapped it around my digit. THAT's when it started bleeding.
And boy did it start bleeding. The prep area where I was dicing the peppers looked like a scene from a horror movie. I decided that I needed to find a manager, but I had to let the obligatory f-bomb slip out at the top of my lungs before I could start thinking rationally. So, I said, "#@#$!!!!" very, very loudly. There, that's better. The next task at hand was finding a manager. There was no need. The f-bomb brought him running. He saw the blood, and he disappeared. Okay, that's no good. I guess I'd better find a phone.
It became painfully aware to me at that point that I am a left handed dialer. I also happen to be a left handed nose picker, but I didn't realize that until a couple of days later.
I ended up hitching a ride from a friend who lives clear on the other side of town because no one at the restaurant wanted me to bleed all over their car. I even offered to let them drive mine. The truth is, I lost a lot of blood, and I didn't trust myself driving with that mixed with the shock of the situation. I finally arrived at the emergency room about a half hour after the actual incident, and the first thing I heard was a little boy of about 10 years old screaming at the top of his lungs. It turns out the poor kid had suffered a compund fracture on his left femur, and it was quite disgusting. I thought I was bleeding a lot. This kid was bleeding like a stuck pig. Now, I may not know exactly what a stuck pig is, but at least it made me put the whole situation into context.
So I had to wait for two hours for anyone to get to me. By that time, my finger had stopped bleeding, but the pain was getting more and more intense. I've had eye surgery back in the days when they used spoons and butter knives to hack away, and this pain wasn't quite as bad as the eye surgeries, but it was comparable. My biggest concern was the fact that two of my three biggest hobbies include playing guitar and typing. Both of these activitivies are quite fingertip intensive, so the quality of my future life was seriously in jeopardy.
It turns out, the doctor finally saw me. He said their was nothing that could be done about my finger except an x-ray to make sure the bone wasn't damaged, a dressing, and a prescription for the pain. Boy, I wish I could remember what that stuff was called, but it was highly addictive. It was a topical ointment that was derived from cocaine, and it made me forget all of my worries all the way up to my elbow. I had a very difficult time weening myself off the stuff, and I had phantom aches in my finger long after it had "completely" healed.
Seven years later, I still have a dent in my index finger. My nail naturally grows like normal, but it overlaps the spot where my tissue is missing quite a bit. I've learned to take extra care of that fingernail simply because it catches too easily on other objects. However, dispite the fact that I went about 2-3 months without being able to type, the incident made me a much better guitarist. I continued to play using my other three fingers, and those fingers gained a lot of dexterity from doing so. Rehabilitating that finger, re-building a callous from a point where there was no tissue, was no easy task. It was almost a year before I could consistantly put full pressure on a guitar string, and then a groove developed through the callous that made things even more difficult. The guitar strings kept slipping into the groove, and I had to press extra hard to get a good note. That only made the groove deeper. However, after working on it for years, it's finally gotten to the point where that finger has an armorlike plate over it. The callous is very hard and impermeable to things like thumtacks and stickpins. When I tap that callous on a tabletop, it sounds like a fingernail.
All in all, I look back at the experience as something that has actually enriched my life. Not only did it make me a better guitarist, but it also gave me a story to tell my kids.
Needless to say, I only worked in that particular restaurant for another two months. I've moved on to other professions, where sharp objects don't come into contact with my precious fingers.[/hijack]
Thanks, Beth, for sharing your story. I actually enjoyed reading it simply because I can relate so much.
bjohn "here's a tip for your services" 13
Posts: 23 | From: Fargo, ND | Registered: Jul 2006
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posted
Wow and ouch! Is there going to be any permanent loss of function? I hope not! And, yes, post a link to pictures! Some of us ghouls would like to see!
My papa lost two and a half fingers when his hand whipped through the fan belt of a Caterpillar D-7 tractor. He was tuning the engine and got too close to the pulley. So...he put the fingers in his pocket and drove himself to the hospital. After they made him wait for an hour, he got mad, and drove himself to *another* hospital, where they had him in an emergency o.r. in five minutes flat. But it was too late -- and also too long ago: the techniques of re-attachment didn't exist then.
It was always fun playing baseball with him, because he had this "sweet spot" where the ball would just push right through his glove.
Take care of yourselves, y'all: the world is full of sharp, heavy, rapidly-moving, hot, and caustic things.
Silas (quite caustic, not so hot, not very sharp at all)
Posts: 16801 | From: San Diego, CA | Registered: Sep 2000
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quote:Originally posted by bethntim: Frog Feathers, your kids are so funny tell your son he gets a high 4 for that one! If anyone wants to see the cut off part my hubby has a picture on his cell phone. That was hilarious, when he takes a pic on his phone it says (very loud) SAY CHEESE! Thanks for your concern you guys are the best! I wear my battle scars proud!
My son yelled out: "YEAH! FOUR!" and did a "high 4" in the air to himself.
He's so easily entertained.
-------------------- "Is it ME? Am I a MAGNET for these idiots?"~Pearl Forrester MST3K Die-Hard Engineers, Big Red One my Dad's website "Must be a 'snopes' thing..." ~my entire family when I try to explain something. Posts: 4524 | From: South of Madison, Wisconsin | Registered: May 2005
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I once sliced my finger really bad while cutting a partially thawed bagel. If that's even a teeny fraction as painful as slicing a chunk right off...eeep. I can't imagine. Go rest tomorrow.
My uncle was using a corn husker (thingie to take kernels off cob) on his great aunt's farm. It was powered by a crank turned by hand. Well, a cob got jammed and he tried to fix it by shoving the cob with his thumb. The machine came unjammed, but the handle was up and gravity brought the handle back down...turning the sharp sharp blades inside. Didn't lose the thumb, but shredded it badly. Lost most of the function and it still has an odd bend in it (tendons were sliced).
-------------------- Tally ho with a bing and a bong and a buzz buzz buzz! Posts: 234 | From: Ontario, Canada | Registered: Oct 2005
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posted
I once had a teacher who had lost half a finger. He had this wise thing to say when asked why he had a half finger: "I don't. I have nine and a half fingers.". I think you can learn something from that.
Apart from that, I'd like to add "OUCH"!
My hint on how to avoid this kind of mishaps is to use very sharp knives, which allows them to be used with as little force as possible. Less chance to slip and less force to cause damage.
-------------------- /Troberg Posts: 4360 | From: Borlänge, Sweden | Registered: Nov 2005
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quote:It became painfully aware to me at that point that I am a left handed dialer. I also happen to be a left handed nose picker, but I didn't realize that until a couple of days later.
Thank you for giving me the best laugh of my day.
-------------------- "I find them to be in contradiction of the basic principles of YOUR MOM!!!" -We've Got Mail Posts: 1361 | From: Muncie, IN | Registered: Sep 2005
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Yikes! I am glad there is no long term damage.
There is a quilt show I watch sometimes on PBS. On the show they always use a protective glove made for using with rotary cutters. I think I'll get one before I do any rotary cutting again.
quote:Alright now onto the pics (not for the squeamish)
Ouch!
I'm not surprised that they did not try to re-attach it. A small piece (relatively) like that would end up as all scar tissue and probably fall off anyway.
The next time you handle a sharp object, make sure you have an adult nearby to supervise.
-------------------- /Troberg Posts: 4360 | From: Borlänge, Sweden | Registered: Nov 2005
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The picture of the fingertip makes it look like you lost a lot more than the pictures of the whole finger. Were they able to attach it, then? Because in the first pic, there's the whole nail/tip gone, but in the other pics, you still seem to have the nail.
-------------------- "You can't play Electro-magnetic Golf according to the rules of Centrifugal Bumble Puppy." -Mustapha Mond, "Brave New World" Posts: 679 | From: New York | Registered: Oct 2001
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They couldn't reattach it, that first picture is deceiving because it looks like my entire finger got cut off. About 1/3 of the nail is gone, I still have the majority (thank goodness). The reason it looks almost in tact is because of the bandage they put on it, it adhered to my skin to stop the bleeding and as the new skin regrows it will slough the protective bandage off. I was shocked and pleasantly surprised today when I saw it, it looks better than I remember it looking on Friday. Guess hysteria will do that to you!
-------------------- Take only pictures, leave only footprints... Posts: 255 | From: Sunny Florida | Registered: Nov 2005
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posted
I foresee you having some slight problems as the nail grows out. My papa had one half-fingernail and one that was only a sliver, and they always gave him a little trouble. Still, it should be something you can deal with, just requiring a bit of extra care.
(Those of us with ingrown toenails and hangnails are already aware that the system is fraught with a few bugs! Not to instigate a theological discussion but..."Intelligent Design" my elbow!)
And, of course, as with a great many injuries...think of the fun you can have telling whopping great lies about how it happened!
"Ah, yes, rhino hunting in the Transvaal. Blighter came charging at me... Put four shots into it...nice grouping if I do say so myself... Died at my feet, but, with its last gasp, nipped my fingertip. Deuced inconvenient. Sold the horn for seventy-five thousand Hong Kong dollars. Shouldn't complain, eh, what?"
Silas
Posts: 16801 | From: San Diego, CA | Registered: Sep 2000
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posted
The pics brought much joy and ickyness to my kids. The boy liked them in particular.
-------------------- "Is it ME? Am I a MAGNET for these idiots?"~Pearl Forrester MST3K Die-Hard Engineers, Big Red One my Dad's website "Must be a 'snopes' thing..." ~my entire family when I try to explain something. Posts: 4524 | From: South of Madison, Wisconsin | Registered: May 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Silas Sparkhammer: snip...
And, of course, as with a great many injuries...think of the fun you can have telling whopping great lies about how it happened!
"Ah, yes, rhino hunting in the Transvaal. Blighter came charging at me... Put four shots into it...nice grouping if I do say so myself... Died at my feet, but, with its last gasp, nipped my fingertip. Deuced inconvenient. Sold the horn for seventy-five thousand Hong Kong dollars. Shouldn't complain, eh, what?"
Silas
Can that be my new signature line? Sounds like a whopper of a tale!
-------------------- Take only pictures, leave only footprints... Posts: 255 | From: Sunny Florida | Registered: Nov 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Silas Sparkhammer: snip...
And, of course, as with a great many injuries...think of the fun you can have telling whopping great lies about how it happened!
"Ah, yes, rhino hunting in the Transvaal. Blighter came charging at me... Put four shots into it...nice grouping if I do say so myself... Died at my feet, but, with its last gasp, nipped my fingertip. Deuced inconvenient. Sold the horn for seventy-five thousand Hong Kong dollars. Shouldn't complain, eh, what?"
Silas
Can that be my new signature line? Sounds like a whopper of a tale!
You're most welcome to it, of course!
I'm reminded of another of my common aphorisms: finding a good auto-mechanic is more important than finding a good doctor: my body will (to a certain degree) repair itself. My car won't!
Heal well!
Silas
Posts: 16801 | From: San Diego, CA | Registered: Sep 2000
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posted
Eeowch. I knew a doctor in Cleveland, Georgia, who accidentally cut off a finger. He packed it in ice, drove himself to the hospital, and when he learned no surgeon was on duty, he reattached his finger himself (with the help of a nurse). It took, and he regained full function in it.
He told the story many times. Once he was in a restaurant and started telling it, though his wife said, "Nobody wants to hear that at meal time!"
He plowed on, anyway, and was well into the "I sewed it back on myself" part when his wife interjected, "Imagine--he could have used both hands if he'd cut off his penis instead."
The doctor sprayed everyone at the table with a particularly pungent Italian wine he enjoyed.
-------------------- "No hard feelin's and HOPpy New Year!"--Walt Kelly Hear what you're missing: ARTC podcasts! http://artcpodcast.org/ Posts: 7581 | From: Gainesville, Georgia | Registered: Jun 2000
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I had an almost identical injury 2 years ago, after my knife slipped while I was cutting a squash. However, I was lucky that the tip was still slightly attached, so they sewed it back on. It was excruciating as it healed, and I'm just now getting some of the feeling back in the severed part.
My husband had a weird finger laceration experience. About 20 years ago, he almost severed his left little finger. The bone was intact, but he cut all of the muscles, tendons & skin 8/10ths of the way around the finger. He hadn't had any feeling in it since. Then, about 3 years ago, he sneezed and ran his left hand through a table saw. He sliced through the first three fingers. The day after the accident, he was seeing the plastic surgeon again, and he mentioned that he was having terrible pain in his little finger. Turns out that the shock of the accident somehow revived the nerves in his previously damaged little finger, and he now has feeling in it. Weird.
posted
Beth, sorry I didn't see this thread til now. And, one quilter to another, I have to ask: you didn't bleed on the quilt I hope!?!
I just sliced my thumb slightly a couple of weeks ago, and sliced myself pretty good a few years ago. That one was actually quite lucky, though; I was quilting with a friend who was also a nurse. Didn't bleed on my quilting either time, either. Yay!
-------------------- "No Biblical hell could ever be worse than the state of perpetual inconsequence." Beatrice in Dangerous Beauty Posts: 1816 | From: Cayuga County, NY | Registered: Nov 2005
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Oooh nice one Bethntim, you really got yourself good there
You'll have to invent an outrageous story for the future, cutting cloth has zero 'wow' factor. I knew a bloke in the Army who had a spectacular dent in his face, with accompanying scars, and he told all the boys it was a mortar round that went off in his face whilst he charged an enemy position - I had it on good authority that he was in fact kicked in the swede by a horse
-------------------- This is where I come up with something right? Something really clever... Posts: 6552 | From: UK | Registered: Oct 2002
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Are you made of spinach Bethntim? What's with the green around the wound?
-------------------- "I wanna bite the hand that feeds me. I wanna bite that hand so badly. I wanna make them wish they'd never seen me." - Elvis Costello Posts: 2291 | From: The Banks of the Merrimack, MA | Registered: Jul 2004
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Yeeikes! Glad to know you're doing well and have a good attitude about it bethntim. My husband gave himself a pretty bad cut on his left index finger the other day (we went to the emergency room, but it turned out he didn't need stitches), but I can't imagine how I'd have reacted had he actually severed anything.
A coworker of mine also recently lost half of his right index finger within the last few months. Must be an epidemic!
-------------------- "That would be really dangerous, you know. Indiscriminately extricating someone from the petrified corpse of a supernatural creature." - My Husband Posts: 4308 | From: Massachusetts | Registered: Jun 2003
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quote:Originally posted by quiltsbypam: Beth, sorry I didn't see this thread til now. And, one quilter to another, I have to ask: you didn't bleed on the quilt I hope!?!
I just sliced my thumb slightly a couple of weeks ago, and sliced myself pretty good a few years ago. That one was actually quite lucky, though; I was quilting with a friend who was also a nurse. Didn't bleed on my quilting either time, either. Yay!
It's so funny you ask that Pam, my first thought after lopping off the tip was, "Oh God! Don't bleed on the fabric!" Screw the couch and the floor the fabric was #1! I did drop a few droplets on the pink fabric so I guess I can officially say I put blood, sweat and tears into this quilt.
quote:Originally posted by AdmiralDinty: Are you made of spinach Bethntim? What's with the green around the wound?
They couldn't get me to stop bleeding so they had to put Telfa on the wound to help it clot. After sitting for two days it turned a weird shade of green/ black/ brown. No spinach interiors, although it does freak out my kids when they see it.
Doing much better today, it's healing nicely, I am still a little squeamish around scissors though...
-------------------- Take only pictures, leave only footprints... Posts: 255 | From: Sunny Florida | Registered: Nov 2005
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